Costs of foraging: Energetics of foraging decisions

Foraging is the behavioral process of searching for, capturing, and consuming food. It is inextricably linked with individual metabolism in animals and is influenced by numerous physiological systems and environmental factors. This article describes the progression of a typical foraging bout in fish and describes how internal and external variables can modulate decision-making during foraging and potential outcomes throughout this sequence. Although foraging is a fundamental, ubiquitous facet of fish behavior with numerous links to physiology, there are many aspects of foraging we do not fully understand, particularly related to the effects of ongoing environmental change.